Oct 27 2024 to Oct 27 2024 6 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Teesta Troupers are a collective of musicians, rappers and songwriters that came to life in 2022 in a jam room below a garage on the Teesta highway, set up as a part of the research methodology in the Arts Research project Water Cuts Stone by Veecheet Vigya Dhakal.

Their music draws from their experience of growing up along the highway and reflects the hustle, melancholy and dreams of young people from their hometown. They released their debut album Sound of Streets in April 2024. This performance draws an amorphous portrait of the Teesta highway line, capturing the rhythm of life and work along the highway.

Language: Nepali | English

This event is in collaboration with India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), as part of their festival Past Forward: The Please, Purpose and Practice of Arts Research, that celebrates the work of over 70 artists in the last 10 years of their Arts Research programme.

Supported by:
Artistes
Anil Chettri

Anil Chettri aka Mr Anix is a member of Teesta Troupers. He works as a rafter on the Teesta river. ‘Growing up in Teesta makes you feel there is no motivation for the youth here. It is difficult to hold onto hope’. Disturbed by the condition of young people around him, Anil was determined to carve a different path for himself, and took to music as a way of expressing his identity.
Ashish Karkidoli

Ashish Karkidoli is a member of Teesta Troupers. The day Ashish ‘I am your weedy boy’ was born, the Darjeeling hospital burnt to the ground. ‘But my name is Ashish, which means blessings’. As someone who has grown up on the highway, Ashish has experienced corruption and labour exploitation first hand. Yet, he greets life with his trademark smile.
Daniel Gandarba

Daniel Gandarba is a member of Teesta Troupers. He speaks few words, preferring to express himself through his songs. ‘I sing in church for my community – and when they listen and pray, I feel musically fulfilled’, he says. People travel from far to hear Daniel lead the mass at church. Daniel also works as part of the safety crew in the newly built railway tunnels in Teesta.
Manoj Tamang

Manoj Tamang aka MJ Humbl3 is a member of Teesta Troupers. He hails from a family of musicians. Manoj was drawn to music since he was a child, spending long hours listening to his grandfather’s shehnai, and the FM radio, where he used to imagine the songs were about his own life.
Sudeep Rajak

Sudeep Rajak is a member of Teesta Troupers and a DJ. He is also a rafter and guide in the Teesta River and Highway Rescue team. Sudeep says he gets the courage to save other people’s lives for music is always saving his own. He is also inspired to document and record stories from the drowning Teesta and its villages around him.
Veecheet Vigya Dhakal

Veecheet Vigya Dhakal is a musician and filmmaker. He is the lead singer and violinist of the Nepali folk-rock band Gauley Bhai. Through music, Gauley Bhai foregrounds questions of migration, displacement, and identity.